The Youth Lenten Campaign for the Poor was a campaign started by Rev Fr Anthony Hutjes in 1993. It is an event that lasted throughout the season of Lent until Easter Sunday.

Rev Fr Hutjes decided that the youths of the parish should organise an event that will not only bring the attention of the parish to the poor, but also to raise funds as part of Charities Week. In his vision, he saw a three-fold mission for the youth in the Lenten Campaign for the Poor. They were:

Since it was started in 1993, the campaign has continued annually with the participation of all the youth groups. In 2007, the Youth Lenten Campaign for the Poor took a break as the Parish had to raise funds for the new Fr Damien Centre that was being built.

The Youth Lenten Campaign for the Poor returned in 2008 under the guidance of the Youth Council, BSCYouth. It coordinated all the youth groups of our Parish to plan, coordinate and execute various fund-raising activities, with the help and support of the whole Church.

One of the key features for each campaign is to encourage youths to actually create or do something to raise funds which would require them to contribute time and effort instead of simply selling their goods. It also gives the youths a sense of ownership for the campaign, as well as offers more opportunities for them to bond together.

In the previous years, the youths sold hand-made Easter Cards, hand-made candles, cookies baked on-site, as well as photo frames hand-decorated by the youths themselves. This year, they sold hand-painted candle-holders, as well as Easter Eggs which they had painstakingly packaged. They even held a car wash one Sunday morning which saw boys and girls from youth groups, teaming up and scrambling around to wash cars, vans, and even a lorry! It was a tiring day but the youths really enjoyed it!

With the new Fr Damien Centre fully functioning by now, the youths also took advantage of its facilities to hold events such as movie screenings, as well as introducing a new event – Tombola Night – to the Youth Campaign for the Poor. It was indeed heartening to see the entire parish hall filled to the brim for an enjoyable evening. In fact, parishioners are now asking for such events to be held even more regularly.

Another highlight of this year's Campaign was the Easter Card to the Pope, where parishioners could sign their Easter greetings on a huge Card (almost 1m in length), which was then sent to the Pope via courier. A donation was made for every signature collected. As was the case when this was done for then Pope John Paul II almost a decade ago, the response received was really encouraging.

Apart from raising funds for the poor, and developing and creating fellowship among the youth, the spiritual side of the campaign was not forgotten. An overnight vigil on Maundy Thursday was organised by the Young Adults group - His Vineyard, for the youths of the parish. 60 youths attended the vigil. The program for the overnight vigil included the Sedar Meal, Rosary, Washing of feet and a Reflective Walk that gave the youths time to reflect on themselves and their relationship with Jesus. The vigil ended on Good Friday morning with breakfast.

For this year’s Campaign for the poor, the youths, with help from the adults of the parish, collected an impressive figure of S$22,284 which was handed over to Caritas Singapore Community Council for Charities Week 2008. The youths also enjoyed themselves and more significantly, were glad to have brought the parish, especially the youths and the adults, a little more closer together.